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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23668591">Just A Shade Darker</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/pseuds/HandmaidenOfHorror'>HandmaidenOfHorror</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Depressoverse [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(Focus on hurt though), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputation, Angst, Dark, Disability, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Near Death Experiences, Post-canon Fuck-it-up, Start Of Darkness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:53:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>739</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23668591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/pseuds/HandmaidenOfHorror</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra chosing duty over desire leads to her having to chose desire over duty - an alternate take of a scene from Turf Wars Part I.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Korra/Asami Sato</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Depressoverse [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652953</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>What Fen Do (Instead of Going Outside)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Just A Shade Darker</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soulstoned/gifts">Soulstoned</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There are many, many worlds, each sprung from a single mother-world, each split by a single decision. In one world, Firelord Sozin held friendship above power, and saved Avatar Roku from the volcanic eruption. In another, Prince Zuko stood by his father and sister to the very end, leading to a much darker future. But not all decisions are great in scope. Some of them are trivial, or decisions made in the heat of the moment. In one world, when fight broke out between spirits and humans over Republic City Portal, Korra left an angry spirit to protect Asami, leading to it mutating one of the human attackers into a terrible hybrid. In another, she didn’t.</p><p>As the Avatar was pleading the leader of the spirits to cease their attack, Asami faced three benders at once. In the fight, her electric gauntlet was damaged, electrocuting the woman who cried out in pain.</p><p>Her ear-piercing cry reached Korra who flew with the might of a hurricane to protect her lover. She used her lightening bending to switch the electric current off and metal bending to remove the damaged gauntlet while subconsciously pushing the attackers away with the wind and forming stone walls to protect the two while she neutralized the danger.  But that wasn’t the end of danger.</p><p>Asami was lying on the ground unconscious, her whole arm and part of her face badly burned, the hand <em>charred</em>. She was in grave danger. For a brief second, Korra was torn between her duty as Avatar and her desire to save her beloved. But it was only a second, after which she made the same decision Aang had made a century before – saving her lover took priority, and Korra gathered Asami into her hands and took flight, aiming for the city hospital.</p><p>She flew with the speed of a hurricane, leaving the shocked people and spirits alike behind, the power of her flight shattering windows as she flew. And finally she landed, handed Asami to doctors who sped to have her undergo intensive care and surgery. Only then has Korra realized she was in Avatar state for the whole time. She collapsed there and then, rapidly losing consciousness as she left the state.</p><p>***</p><p>Weeks passed. Korra’s perceived escape left deep scars on the city. The territories near the portal were claimed by the spirits who barred humans from entering it. There were riots all over the city, and  Korra’s friends found themselves having to make difficult decisions, sometimes facing each other on opposing sides. People were chanting <em>Where Is The Avatar</em>, and the Avatar?</p><p>She has spent the whole time in hospital, waiting for the love of her life to wake up, and even Tenzin had no heart to tell her to go tend to the needs to other people’s.  And, as more weeks passed, the city came to some semblance of peace, and people started to think, <em>maybe they don’t need the Avatar at all</em>? After all, they came out of a conflict without her help. In fact, she unknowingly <em>caused</em> the very conflict.</p><p>By that time, Avatar was no longer in the city, instead attending her lover in her recovery in Sato Summer Mansion. The explosion of her gauntlet had costed Asami her arm, which had to be amputated high above the elbow. Perhaps even worse, the skin on the left part of her shoulders, neck and face was deeply damaged, and the healing process left enormous amount of scar tissue, significantly altering the woman’s appearance.</p><p>“It’s nothing,” said Asami, “I’ll just have to learn to write with my left hand. And honestly, Korra, you couldn’t have stopped it unless you kept me from fighting, and you know I wouldn’t stay back willingly.”</p><p>Korra knew that. She also knew Asami mourned the loss of fighting ability and beauty much more that she showed. She wanted to appear so strong for Korra, and she was! But if Asami wasn’t strong, she would still be healthy, and the conflict in the city would have been quickly resolved.</p><p>She kissed her lover’s neckline gently, avoiding the damaged skin. And she thought, <em>perhaps I should have forced you to stay</em>. And the world that has only just recovered from a period of imbalance was facing a treat of return to it, this time brought by the person who was to maintain the balance. The clouds over the continent grew just a shade darker.</p>
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